If you’re a fan of all things cute and cozy, these Jellycat-inspired steamed buns are sure to steal your heart. Drawing inspiration from the beloved Jellycat plushies, I’ve transformed traditional steamed buns into adorable fruit-shaped creations filled with sweet red bean paste. Not only are these buns irresistibly cute, but they’re also incredibly delicious, making them the perfect treat for anyone who loves a bit of whimsy in their kitchen.
Why You’ll Love These Steamed Buns
These steamed buns are more than just a pretty face—they’re a delightful blend of soft, fluffy dough and sweet red bean paste. Each bun is carefully shaped to resemble a different fruit, bringing a playful and artistic touch to the classic steamed bun. Whether you’re making them for a special occasion, a fun baking project, or just to brighten up your day, these buns are sure to impress.
The best part? These buns are as fun to make as they are to eat. The process of shaping the dough and adding little details like eyes, mouths, and leaves is like working with edible clay, allowing you to let your creativity run wild. Plus, using the Jellycat plushies as inspiration means there’s no limit to the types of fruit (or other adorable shapes) you can create.
Tips for Making the Perfect Jellycat-Inspired Buns
- Choose Your Fruit Shapes: Start by deciding which fruits you’d like to replicate. Popular options include peaches, pumpkins, strawberries, and more. You can even mix and match colors to create your own unique fruits!
- Perfect Your Dough: The key to these buns is getting the dough just right. Knead the dough until it’s smooth and soft, with no lumps. This ensures a perfect, even rise and a beautiful final product.
- Get Creative with Details: The small details are what make these buns so charming. Use a bench scraper to add texture, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different tools to create indents or patterns. A little milk acts as glue to attach the features securely.
- Steam to Perfection: Keep the heat low and the lid slightly cracked during steaming to prevent the buns from becoming soggy. Be extra careful when removing the lid so that the water droplets don’t fall onto your buns! The result will be perfectly cooked, pillowy buns that are almost too cute to eat—almost!
Fruit Jellycat Steamed Buns
Description
These fruit-shaped steamed buns are as adorable as they are delicious, inspired by the charming Jellycat plushies. Soft, fluffy, and filled with sweet red bean paste, each bun is carefully crafted to resemble a different fruit, making them almost too cute to eat! Perfect for a fun baking project or a unique addition to your dessert table, these buns are sure to impress with their playful appearance and delightful flavor. Whether you're a fan of steamed buns or simply looking to try something new, these whimsical treats bring a touch of joy to every bite.
Ingredients
Instructions
Make the dough
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In a large mixing bowl, combine the room temperature milk and yeast. Stir gently.
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Add the flour, sugar and oil to the bowl with the milk and yeast mixture.
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Using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the ingredients on low speed until the dough comes together and is well combined into one lump.
You can also use a spatula to first knead the dough until it forms its shape more and then transition to using your hand. This will feel like a dry dough. -
Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smoother but it will still not be completely smooth yet.
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After kneading the dough, divide it into 85 g pieces, ensuring each portion is uniform in size.
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From each 85 g dough ball, reserve a small portion of dough to create the eyes, mouth, stems, leaves, or legs, depending on the type of fruit you're making and the look you want to achieve. For inspiration, you can refer to the Jellycat website to see how the fruits are designed and shape your dough accordingly.
If you do not want to shape your own eyes and mouth you can always use an edible marker to draw them on once the buns are done or use melted chocolate instead! -
Gather the dough you reserved for each feature, and combine them by category. For example, place all the dough reserved for the eyes and mouths into one group, and all the dough reserved for legs into another. This way, you can color and knead each category of dough at once, making it easier to achieve a consistent color and texture for each feature.
If you do not want to shape your own eyes and mouth you can always use an edible marker to draw them on once the buns are done or use melted chocolate instead! -
Now it's time to color and knead the dough. For the dough reserved for the body of each fruit, add food coloring according to the fruit you are making, and knead it into the dough until the color is well distributed. Continue kneading the dough by hand until it is completely smooth with no lumps, which should take about 5-10 minutes.
If the fruits you are making are the same color, or if you are only making one type of fruit, combine the dough before kneading to save time and effort. -
Repeat the coloring and kneading process for all the dough portions, including the ones set aside for the different features like eyes, mouths, stems, leaves, and legs. Add food coloring to each portion according to the desired color for each feature, and knead the dough until the color is evenly distributed and the dough is completely smooth with no lumps. This should take about 5-10 minutes per portion.
If you have multiple features that require the same color, you can combine those dough portions before kneading to save time and ensure consistency. -
Once all your dough portions are smooth like baby skin, you can start molding and shaping them. Begin rolling out the body dough, then spoon in about a tablespoon of sweet red bean paste (optional or use any other filling). Carefully envelope the paste with the dough and roll it into a smooth ball.
use a tiny bit of water or milk to help smooth out the seam -
Now it's time to shape your dough into your desired fruit forms. Treat this process like working with clay and let your artistic side shine! Use tools like a bench scraper to add texture and indents, especially for fruits like pumpkins and peaches.
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Next, split up the dough you reserved for the features (eyes, mouths, stems, leaves, legs) and shape them accordingly. Attach these features to the body dough, using a small amount of milk as glue to ensure they stick securely.
If you do not want to shape your own eyes and mouth you can always use an edible marker to draw them on once the buns are done or use melted chocolate instead!
Fermentation/Rise
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For fermentation and rising, fill a pot with a shallow amount of warm (not hot) water, just below the level of your steamer basket. Place the shaped buns slightly apart in the steamer basket to allow room for expansion. Crack the lid of the pot slightly to allow some air to escape, and let the buns rise for about 45 minutes, or until they have expanded to approximately 1.5 times their original size.
If you take a while shaping all the dough balls, there may be no need for a separate rise process. If the shaped buns you made appear 1.5 times the size they were when you first made them, you can skip this step and proceed to the next.
Steam buns
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Cover the steamer and steam the buns on low heat for 15 minutes. Keep the lid very slightly cracked to allow some steam to escape. Once they're done, remove the buns from the steamer and enjoy your adorable, fruit-shaped steamed buns filled with sweet red bean paste!
Be careful when removing the lid off the steamer! I remove it to the side quickly so that water droplets don't fall on the buns :) If you opted to draw on your eyes and mouth with an edible marker or chocolate, let the buns cool down first and then draw them on!
